


See What's Become of Me

by buoyantsaturn



Series: auctober2020 [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, NOTHING funky happens between older will and younger nico ok they just talk a little bit, TLO Nico goes to the future, Time Travel, pre relationship meets established relationship, the only ToN spoiler is there's a camper named Gracie now!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26702701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: Still New York City, he decided, but...the battle was over. Had they won? They must have, since there were no monuments to Kronos on every street corner, and he was...still alive.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: auctober2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939612
Comments: 33
Kudos: 197
Collections: Solangelo Auctober 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! happy auctober!!  
> heres a fun little time travel fic that i may or may not write another piece of in the future!! enjoy!!
> 
> title from hazy shade of winter by gerard way!! (and like. 2 other bands before him)

Nico felt a jolt, and suddenly the sun was shining. The streets were bustling, but not with monsters and armies, but with kids with backpacks and people with shopping bags. The change in noise level might’ve been the most startling of all - there was no more screaming, no more harsh clanging of swords on shields. Instead there was talking, _shouting,_ the rumbling of car engines and the wailing of police sirens. Really, he didn’t know which was worse. 

He tried to figure out where he was. He wasn’t overly familiar with the anatomy of New York City, but the buildings towering overhead looked exactly the same as they had...a few seconds ago. The only difference was the sudden chance in the sun’s location. And the people, who were awake and moving around when they had previously been sleeping in cars on the side of the road. 

Still New York City, he decided, but...the battle was over. Had they won? They must have, since there were no monuments to Kronos on every street corner, and he was...still alive. 

He’d squared off against Kronos. That was the last thing he remembered. Had he been knocked unconscious? And somehow forgotten there for so long that the world had returned to normal while he was asleep?

Nico needed to get to camp. Maybe there he would find some answers. And maybe, if they really had won, then...Percy would be there.

And, if he really had been asleep for as long as he guessed, then he’d have plenty of energy to make the jump to camp.

So Nico found a dark corner, focused his energy, and stepped into the shadow. The jolt he felt at the jump was similar to the one he’d felt only moments ago, only this time he was chilled to the bone and felt like his skin might tear off at any second - the familiarity was comforting, almost. 

He walked out of the shadow of the Big House, and frowned. Where there was usually open fields was a smattering of cabins - no, not cabins, _houses._ Tiny, probably only single bedroom places, set out in rows instead of the classic U-shape of the cabins. 

Nico turned, stepped around the side of the Big House, and had just enough time to recognize the _actual_ cabins in the distance before he was overcome with dizziness. 

He collapsed. 

When Nico woke up again, it felt much more like _waking up._ He was groggy, and just wanted to curl up and pass out again, but in typical Apollo kid fashion, the camp medic wouldn’t let him. A camp medic that...he didn’t recognize.

“Where’s Michael?” Nico asked, sitting up and attempting to blink the spots out of his eyes. 

The girl in front of him frowned. “Who?” 

“The...head counselor?” Nico tried. 

She shook her head. “No Michael here. I’m Gracie, head of the Apollo cabin and the best healer to currently call herself a camper. And you are?” 

“I…” Nico brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, “...need to talk to Chiron.”

Gracie nodded. “Sure. He’s already on his way. Yeah, I sent Jamie over to the Big House to let him know that some kid just showed up out of nowhere and passed out. Do you have, like, chronic...passing out, or something?”

Nico frowned. “I’d rather just talk to Chiron.”

She shrugged. “Alright, suit yourself.” Gracie leaned back in her seat and folded her arms over her chest, as though content to sit and stare at Nico until Chiron arrived.

Nico glanced around the room uneasily. “So… How long until--”

“Gracie?” A deep, familiar voice called from somewhere else in the infirmary.

“In here, Chiron!” Gracie replied, and jumped to her feet to make room for the centaur to enter. “He just woke up a few minutes ago, but he won’t tell me anything. But that’s okay, right, because you said you already had an idea of who he is, right?”

Chiron stepped through the door, ducking under the door frame as he did, and when he lifted his eyes to Nico, he froze. “Ah, yes, Gracie, that’s correct. If you would excuse us, please, I’d like to have a word with the young...boy, in private.”

Gracie looked surprised for a second, then quickly veiled her expression to casual nonchalance at being dismissed. “Yeah, sure. I’ve got...other people to heal, anyway.”

She left the room, and Chiron waited until she had shut the door behind herself before speaking again. He cleared his throat, hesitating before he said, “Nico, you look...different, than when I last saw you.”

Nico frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Chiron waved a hand dismissively, which Nico did _not_ appreciate. “Never mind that. Would you care to tell me what you last remember before arriving here?” 

Nico huffed. “We were fighting Kronos. I had _finally_ convinced my dad to help out in the fight, and I was feeling pretty confident, so I might have...charged Kronos. Which was stupid, I know! But clearly I’m _fine,_ because I’m alive, and the war’s over, and we probably won, since camp is still here, and--”

“Tell me what happened when you fought Kronos,” Chiron interrupted. 

Nico shrugged. “I dunno, it was like… Time kind of slowed down? But that just happens sometimes, right? Because of my...ADHD, or whatever you called it. And then it kind of felt like I shadow traveled, but without any of the...feeling. And I didn’t go to a different place, but to a different... _time._ Did I shadow _time_ travel?”

“No, Nico, I don’t believe that’s what happened. It would appear that, as a defense mechanism, Kronos may have misplaced you in time.” He started to chuckle, like he’d thought of a funny joke, and said, “It would seem you have a nasty habit of finding yourself in the wrong time.”

Nico frowned and pulled his knees closer to his chest. “Where’s Percy? I wanna talk to him.”

Chiron’s expression dropped, eyes widening in surprise and looking as though there was something he didn’t want to tell Nico. 

Nico’s heart turned to ice. “He survived, didn’t he? Chiron, tell me where Percy is.”

Chiron cleared his throat. “Well, you see--”

_“Where is he?”_ a new voice came from outside the room, and suddenly the door burst open. Where Nico had been hoping to see Percy, he instead saw a tall blond with striking blue eyes and more beads on his camp necklace than even Annabeth had. His eyes landed on Nico and he froze in the same way that Chiron had. He didn’t look away from Nico as he said, “Uh, Chiron? What’s...going on?”

“Will, thank you for meeting me here,” Chiron said. “I believe your...calming abilities will be helpful in this situation. Would you mind answering a few of Nico’s questions? Something tells me that you might be...better suited. And perhaps you could make sure Gracie didn’t miss anything in her medical examination.”

Will’s eyes finally strayed from Nico just long enough to nod in Chiron’s direction. “Uh, sure, Chiron. I can do that.” He made his way to the chair that Gracie had been sitting in, and awkwardly folded his hands in his lap.

“Thank you. Nico, this is Will, former counselor of the Apollo cabin and former head medic,” Chiron said. “I’ll leave you two to get...acquainted.”

With that, Chiron backed out of the room and shut the door. 

“I hate when he says _former_ like that,” Will told Nico, in a tone that implied he was trying to lighten the mood. “Makes it sounds like I got fired or something, when really I... _graduated._ Yeah, let’s call it that. So...Nico, right? Um. Did you have any questions for me?”

Nico looked him over. If he was so old, and had been at camp for so long, then how come Nico had never heard of him?

“Oookay, then could you tell me if you have any injuries that I should know about?” Will tried again.

Nico kept his mouth shut. 

Will sighed. “Okay, Nico, here’s how this is going to work. I need to make sure you’re not hurt in any way - physically, mentally, or magically - and you probably need some answers too, right? So, shoot. Ask me anything you want, and in return, you’ll answer any questions I have, okay? Do we have a deal?” When Nico still didn’t respond, Will leaned back in his chair and crossed one ankle over his other knee, getting comfortable. “Look, I don’t have any other plans today, so--”

“We won the war, right?” Nico asked. “We beat Kronos?” 

Recognition seemed to flow over Will like a wave. Like that one simple question had given him all the answers he needed. He smiled at Nico, and something about it made skeletal butterflies flutter in Nico’s stomach. “Yeah, we beat Kronos. You must’ve just been in the middle of a pretty nasty fight before you got here, so do you have any injuries I should look at?” 

Nico shook his head. 

“No bullshit?” Will asked, and Nico’s face erupted at the use of such foul language. “I have a lot of experience in the infirmary, so I’ve gotten pretty good at sussing out injuries that _some people_ are trying to hide. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“I’m not hurt,” Nico assured him. 

Will nodded. “Okay. Your turn.”

“I wanna talk to Percy,” Nico blurted. 

Will bit the inside of his cheek as though trying to keep himself from laughing. “Yeah, I’m sure you would.”

Nico bristled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing! Percy’s okay, if I had you worried. He and Annabeth are going to school in California.”

Nico’s heart sank. “Oh. Wait-- _California?_ But demigods aren’t allowed to live in California!”

“Ah, ah! You already had your turn!” Will teased, then waved his hand. “I’m kidding. They’re in New Rome. If I remember correctly, you’ve already been there, haven’t you?” He winked. “Don’t worry. I know everything. My dad _is_ the god of prophecy, after all. Anyway, are you feeling dizzy or light headed?” 

Nico frowned. “No. How long was I asleep if they’re already in California?”

“Well, since you got to camp it’s only been a couple of hours,” Will told him. “Any nausea?”

“No.” Nico paused, looking over Will once again. The more he looked at this guy, the more familiar he seemed. “Who are you, again?”

Will grinned. “Will Solace, son of Apollo, best healer within the camp’s borders.”

“Will... _Solace?”_ Nico repeated, his mind flashing back to the battle the night before, to a blond kid with a medic pouch running across the battlefield. “But… I just saw you _yesterday!_ You’re my age!” 

Will’s grin brightened. “Technically, I’m either six months older, or...sixty-ish years younger.”

Nico pressed a hand to the side of his head. “Okay, I think I’m getting dizzy now.”

“I just have one last thing I need to check, okay?” Will said gently. “Can I see your hands?” 

Nico hesitated before holding them out, and Will took them carefully in his own. His hands were soft and warm, the opposite of Nico’s which were callused from sword fighting. Will ran his fingers along Nico’s, then gently pinched his fingertips, which Nico thought was odd. 

“No fading, that’s good,” Will told him.

Nico was about to ask what that meant when his eyes caught on something on Will’s hand. “That’s my ring,” Nico said, snatching Will’s wrist before he could pull his hand back. “Did you just take...it…” No, Nico’s ring was still snug against the base of his middle finger. Did Will’s just look similar? _No,_ they were _identical._

Will laughed awkwardly, tugging his hand back but Nico refused to release him. “Uh, yeah, about that.”

“How did you get my ring?” Nico demanded. 

“Hey, hey! I’m gonna give it back, just let me explain!” Will told him, reaching out with his other hand to pry Nico’s fingers from his wrist. “Okay, so, by now I’m pretty sure you’ve gathered that you’re...sort of out of place here. And by place, I mean... _time.”_

Nico frowned. “Yeah. Chiron already made a pretty bad joke about it.”

“Okay, well. You’re not a few hours out of place. You’re a few... _years._ Five years, to be specific.”

“I was asleep for _five years?”_ Nico shouted. 

Will waved his hands. “No, no! I don’t really know what happened, but-- Look, Kronos was defeated on Percy’s birthday five years ago. And after that--” Will cleared his throat. “Well, some stuff happened. But after _that,_ you and I became...friends. Like, really good friends. But you’re kind of an idiot sometimes, and you kept running off and getting hurt, and I never really knew if you were going to come back to me... _and the rest of camp._ So, um. One day, you gave me your ring, and you said that you’d be back for it in a few days, and that I should make sure nothing happened to it while you were away. And it became sort of a...tradition for whenever you left.”

Nico gave himself a second to take it all in. “So...where am I now?” 

Will shrugged. “Just visiting your dad, or something. Nothing dangerous.”

Nico frowned. “Well, if it’s nothing dangerous, then why would I give you my ring?”

“I told you, it’s tradition!” Will reached forward and ruffled Nico’s hair. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

If Will had kept his hand there a second longer, Nico would’ve bitten him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! happy auctober still! here's part 2 of this time travel fic that follows older nico!! enjoy!!

Nico had gone to the Underworld to visit his father as he did about once a month. They’d made the arrangement so that Hades didn’t feel the need to call Nico down in the middle of the night under the guise of some impossible task he needed Nico to complete. 

Now, though, Nico was lounging in his Underworld bedroom, waiting for Hades to finish some important meeting. He had one arm behind his head, his other hand raised over him, twirling shadows into different shapes between his fingers

One second, he was working on sort of a one-handed cat’s cradle, and the next, he was laying in a heap on the floor. A quick look around the room showed that all of his belongings had vanished - even the light fixtures on the walls. He got up off the floor and went out into the hall, but the palace was eerily quiet. Hades wasn’t in the throne room, Persephone wasn’t in her gardens, and - thank the gods - Demeter was nowhere to be found. Actually, the entire Underworld seemed more subdued than usual. 

Nico returned to the surface - if things seemed off in the Underworld, then something must seriously be wrong up above. He went to camp first, intending to find Chiron to ask if he’d noticed anything off, but as soon as he stepped out of the shadow, he froze.

His  _ house _ was  _ gone. _ The entire neighborhood that Annabeth had built for older demigods just west of the Big House had completely disappeared. And not just that; Nico turned the other way to see that his cabin was missing, as well. Every cabin from thirteen to twenty was gone, leaving only the original twelve.

The entire camp even seemed quieter than usual, but it wasn’t  _ calm. _ There was tension in the air, yet no one was scrambling across camp. The only movement he saw was from the Ares cabin, where only a few campers came in or out.

He felt like he’d been here before - he’d felt this tension and he’d seen these campers and various states of dressed in armor. Realization hit him like the flat of a blade slapping him in the chest. He needed to get to the city. 

Nico shadow traveled just around the corner from the Plaza Hotel, and immediately jumped into the fray. He pulled his sword from a shadow and lodged it into the nearest dracanae. If his suspicion was correct, he needed to find Kronos - the only being powerful enough to manipulate time. He must have pulled some trick that sent Nico back in time.

Nico ran across the battlefield, slashing through monsters and shadow jumping around poison-tipped teeth and claws. He tried to avoid any demigods he saw - whether friend or foe - because he didn’t want his presence there disrupting too much of how that battle was  _ supposed _ to go. He didn’t know how well that was going to work when he faced Kronos, though. 

He was nearing the front of the Empire State Building when he heard a scream from somewhere off to his left. He’d heard screaming that entire time, of course, but this one was different. Familiar. It shot ice through his heart. Whether he was fourteen or nineteen, Nico would remember the sound of Will’s voice. 

Nico turned on his heel and ran toward Will. He almost couldn’t see him behind the wall of empousi surrounding him, closing in. Nico shadow jumped between Will and the monsters, brandishing his sword protectively. He waited for the first empousa to lunge, and he cut her in half. He let each monster make the first move before he cut them down, turning them each into their own pile of sulfur dust. 

Nico glanced over his shoulder at Will, who was backed up against a brick wall. A quick look told Nico that he was uninjured, just shaken, and only slightly in awe at the sight of his savior. 

Nico grinned. “Hey there, Sunshine.” He waited only long enough for this younger Will’s cheeks to grow pink at the pet name before he shadow traveled away once more. 

He continued on his quest for Kronos. He heard Percy’s voice another street down, and Chiron’s up another block. The highest concentration of fighting, though, seemed to be dead ahead, so that’s where he went. 

Seeing Luke Castellan in front of him had Nico taking pause. He’d almost forgotten that Kronos had taken over a  _ person, _ that he hadn’t just manifested himself a body. And now, Nico was staring at somebody who was just a couple years older than Nico was physically. A horrible monster that, by the time he was Nico’s age, had already tried to kill Percy more than once. To be fair, Nico had tried to kill him at, like, eleven, so maybe that wasn’t the best comparison. But Nico almost felt hesitation at charging Kronos, because he remembered that there was a  _ human _ in there.

Then he watched Kronos use one of his own demigod army men as a human shield before tossing the dead body aside. Nico got over his hesitation. 

He sneaked through the shadows, taking out the monsters closest to him and taking down the demigod enemies acting as Kronos’s bodyguards. 

Nico allowed himself to become visible directly in front of Kronos, and grinned. Then, he wound back his fist, and punched Kronos straight in the nose. While it wouldn’t hurt him, thanks to the curse of Achilles, it left him dazed long enough than Nico could jump behind him and press the point of his sword underneath Kronos’s arm, in the spot he’d heard was his most vulnerable. 

“I know that didn’t hurt you, but gods of Olympus did that feel good,” Nico said in Kronos’s ear. “Now, unless you want this to end right here, right now, then you might want to put me back in my own timeline. I’ll give you to the count of--”

Nico reappeared in his father’s throne room, aiming his sword up at Hades. “--three.”

Hades’s eyes darted back and forth across the throne room. He cleared his throat. “Son, if I had known that missing our monthly dinner would bother you this much, then--”

Nico lowered his sword quickly, allowing it to dissolve into the nearest shadow. “No! Sorry, I was-- It’s not important. So, uh. Dinner?”

* * *

Rather than sleeping in the Underworld that night like he usually would, Nico returned to camp that night, relieved to see both his cabin and his house back where they belonged. He entered the house he shared with Will already smiling, and dropped onto the couch beside his boyfriend. Nico curled into Will’s side, and Will draped an arm around his shoulders.

“Hey,” Will greeted, pressing a kiss to the side of Nico’s head. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again until tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, I had a pretty long day, so I thought I’d come back early,” Nico told him.

Will hummed. “Me too. It’s kind of a funny story, actually.” 

Nico tilted his head back and winked up at him. “You know, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened.”

“You probably would, huh.” Will poked him in the stomach and said, “So, you must have some interesting new memories from today, then.”

Nico relaxed, pillowing his head against Will’s chest. “You mean that time I met some hot, older blond guy who  _ heavily _ implied that we were together when I was so deep in the closet I could barely  _ breathe? _ Yeah, I think I remember something about that.”

Will pressed his nose into Nico’s hair. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t traumatize you too much,” he said with a laugh. “Anyway, tell me about your long day. How was dinner with your dad?”

Nico shrugged. “It was fine. Better yet, I got to punch Kronos in the face.”

“You-- _ what? _ I’m gonna need some more details on that one.” 

Nico yawned, stretching one head over his head and reaching back to tug on one of Will’s curls. “Maybe tomorrow. I did a  _ lot _ of shadow jumps today, so I’m pretty wiped out.”

Will ran his knuckles softly over Nico’s sternum. “I’m sure you are. But if you want to head to bed, you’re gonna have to get off of me.”

Nico hummed. “I dunno, I’m pretty comfy here.” He grabbed Will’s hand to stop the motion, and ran his fingers along Will’s. He traced the outline of his own silver ring with a single fingernail.

“You’re just waiting for me to give you your ring back, right?” Will joked, already moving to pull the ring off with his other hand, but Nico covered the ring with his own hand. 

“No,” Nico blurted. “You should hold onto it a little bit longer.” He tilted his head back again and met Will’s eyes. “I like seeing you wear my ring.” 

Will smiled back. “Well, I like  _ wearing _ your ring.” He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Nico’s. 

When he pulled away, Nico smiled and said, “You’re a dork.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! check out the auctober collection to read the other solangelo works from this event!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! check out solangeloweek on tumblr for more auctober stuff!!
> 
> just so yall know I HAVE finished ToN and i will gladly talk to yall about it on tumblr! please keep the comments here spoiler free!!


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